Understamding The Role Of The Brain Flashcards
What is trephination?
Involved making a surgical hole in the skull while the patient was awake. This allowed a healing spirit in or an evil spirit out.
What is ‘blood-letting’?
Treatment of melancholia (depression), that was believed that too much black bile was needed to be released. A physician would use a small, sharp knife to release bad blood through multiple small sharp cuts
What did Thomas Willis develop?
Developed the term ‘hemisphere’ and ‘lobe’ when talking about the brain and theorised that a particular cortical structure had specialised functions.
He conducted an in depth study of the brain and determined automatic processes such as breathing, heart rate and other motor functions that control a specific area of the lower brain.
What did Franz Joseph Gall suggest?
Suggested that personality was directly linked to brain structures and is noted for the development of phrenology.
What is the brain Vs heart debate?
Debate that some believed that the brain was the Center of intelligent thought, personality, decision making and consciousness, for others it was the heart that was attributed with these qualities and functions.
What is the mind-body problem?
Asks ‘what is the mind?’ And ‘what relationship does the mind have with the brain(body)?’
It basically relates to the question ‘is the mind a separate entity from the brain and the body?
What is the body?
Th body consists of physical entities (parts), including the brain, and these entities can be measured in terms of size, mass and shape and density. The body occupies space an exists in time.
What is the mind?
It relates to our self-awareness, our ability to reflect, think, and reason about ourselves and the world. It relates to consciousness.
What is monism?
The mind is the same thing as the brain.
Materialistic monism views consciousness (the mind) as a result of complex physical interactions between neurones.
What is dualism?
View that the mind is a separate entity to the body.
belief that the mind is our subjective experience and is non-physical or on-material. The mind is composed of matter and cannot be physically measured in the same manner as the body.
What is Rene Descartes famous line?
“I think, therefore I am”
He attempted to explain the mind body problem, as he viewed it has two distinct systems-dualism. He stated that the mind creates our real experience of the world and interacts with our body. In order to study the mind, ones thoughts and feelings (‘I think’) must be observed because they make us exist in our world (‘therefore I am’)
What is phrenology?
A pseudoscience that suggest our mental abilities and personality are controlled by 37 ares of the brain and that the shape and size of the skull can be measured to determine a person’s character.
What is a psychograph?
An electrically powered device that automatically measured the lumps and bumps on a person’s head. It had 32 probes and provided a personalised printout of ones personality.
It’s helped to further the idea that the human brain is responsible for personality, emotions, perception and intelligence, and that different areas of the brain are responsible for different Functions.
What are three ways of brain research methods?
- case studies: in depth study of some behaviour/event through observation, diagnostic tests, interviews and analysis of medical records.
- autopsies: surgically opening up the body of a deceased person to examine the location of damage/illness/cause of death
- operations: surgical procedure on patient with damaged brain
What is trephination?
Involved making a surgical hole in the skull while the patient was awake. This allowed a healing spirit in or an evil spirit out.
What is ‘blood-letting’?
Treatment of melancholia (depression), that was believed that too much black bile was needed to be released. A physician would use a small, sharp knife to release bad blood through multiple small sharp cuts
